APOE 4 new trajectory

[Bettylacy]

This from today's Science Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... ceDaily%29

There are people walking around who have no ApoE and they're fine cognitively," Holtzman said. "It doesn't appear to be required for normal brain function...These findings suggest that decreasing ApoE specifically in the brain could slow or block neurodegeneration, even in people who already have accumulated tau tangles. Most investigational therapies for Alzheimer's disease have focused on amyloid beta or tau, and none has been successful yet in changing the trajectory of the disease. Targeting ApoE has not yet been tried, according to Holtzman.

Interesting read today re- emphasizing the relationship of APOE and inflammation in the brain along with resultant tau. Most fascinating to me was the finding that there are people who don't have APOE. Zilch APOE. Never heard of that! Of course it appears they die early of CVD if left untreated because of high cholesterol. But guess what their brains don't show damage. Until gene splicing develops more to rid ourselves of our APOE-4, Bredesen's program helps us reduce those 36 holes, a big part of which seem to be related to inflamation. Unless we want to go and live with the Tsimane in Boliva and eat parasites or take a boat to live the Kitavans in South Pacific, its back to the epigenetic lifestyle changes for now.

[Julie G]

Hi Betty! We've previously explored this avenue in several threads. Unfortunately, I could only locate one. As you can see by this characterization below, this patient with zero APOE did experience some cognitive impact even at age 40. As I recall, he was also affected by CVD and had sores all over his skin. That said, I may be mixing up two case studies, but I've never found one where the patient was completely healthy without functioning APOE.

The patient is characterized as cognitively normal by his MMSE score, an admittedly “blunt measure,” while “sub-domain” tests indicate deficits in memory, language, visual-spatial abilities and executive function, in addition to signs of dyslexia. Therefore, the subject is already displaying significant signs of cognitive stress.

I'm fascinated (and discouraged) by the fact that we still don't have a consensus on whether or not increasing or decreasing APOE could be of benefit in preventing or treating AD. We've got evidence on both sides .